Andrew Hayward Crawley (1947−1988 [21]), married Sarah Lawrence in 1986 and had one son and a posthumous daughter. [22] We’ve heard of some unusual writing habits over the years, what would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?

I started learning Russian at the age of 45, and I am still learning, and it is my fifth language, so the idea to make two interpreters my main characters was irresistible. Interpreters keep to the shadows; they are seldom noticed, or remembered, and yet they see and hear everything. I got the central storyline – a Russian plot to sabotage the internet cables which link the UK to the US – from a report written for the Policy Exchange think tank in 2017, called: Undersea Cables: Indispensable, insecure. The author was a little-known MP called Rishi Sunak! Prescient and pacey, this book sizzles with the author’s expertise.’ Edward Lucas, author of The New Cold War: Putin’s Threat to Russia and the West Alison Linda McNair Scott was born on 1 October 1936. 1 She was the daughter of Major Ronald Guthrie McNair Scott and Hon. Mary Cecilia Berry. 2 She married Laurence Charles Kevin Kelly, son of Sir David Victor Kelly and Renee Marie-Noele de Jouda de Vaux, on 20 April 1963. 1 She died on 12 January 2019 at age 82. 3 Roberts, S (November 1996). "Summary report on the papers of Arthur Stafford Crawley (1876-1948), canon of Windsor and Anstice Katharine Crawley (1881-1963) in the muniments of St George's Chapel, Windsor (reference: GB-0260-M.126)". Historical Manuscripts Commission. UK National Archives . Retrieved 1 August 2012. . Relatives are flying out to collect the boys, but it is feared their mother and father were swept out to sea.In 1987 I stood in Brent East as the conservative candidate against Ken Livingstone in the general election. In 1989 I was the conservative candidate for London Central in the European elections. In Harriet Crawley’s enjoyable thriller, the title character, Clive Franklin, plans to spend his holidays translating a spot of Chekhov for fun while hiking in the Scottish Highlands.

The British PM might be a woman in this novel and Serov might be Putin by any other name, the acuity and similarities for readers cannot be overlooked. There is Russian interference, blame and bluster, fudging and smoke screens, threats and counter-threats that all feel so depressingly familiar from contemporary international relations in the real world, the deviousness is excellently captured in this novel. For me the plot is always the most difficult, and it is a huge challenge to make it watertight and plausible. If the plot is not credible, the whole book falls apart. A tight plot requires tremendous attention to detail…every piece of the puzzle must fall in place. Sometimes one piece will not fall into place, and you can spend days finding a solution. In Harriet Crawley’s enjoyable thriller, the title character, Clive Franklin, plans to spend his holidays translating a spot of Chekhov for fun while hiking in the Scottish Highlands. Clive is technically an interpreter, working with diplomats and politicians, but this term makes him “wince”; he prefers to call himself a “translator”, as he thinks this makes him sound more creative. What’s more, he always translates – or, rather, interprets – from his native English into Russian, because “it’s all about controlling what the other side hears”. Controlling the flow of information is a key theme of this fast-paced novel. At 21, after I had graduated from King’s College, London (BA degree in History) I had a column from New York for the Daily Mail. I also had a regular slot on ‘Start the Week’, Radio 4. At the same time, I had a career in television, appearing on screen and interviewing people.On reading this book, one could be forgiven for thinking you have heard all of it before, because, unless you avoid all uk news, you most probably have heard it all before.